Subject description
In an increasingly competitive academic world, doctoral candidates must be more aware of the importance of developing competences and transferable skills, therefore the purpose of the course is for the doctoral candidate (researcher) to learn the basic knowledge and competences that he must have in the various stages of the research process to be able to successfully be performed.
Get to know the competence areas of the doctoral study model:
• Research Skills and Knowledge. Researchers can formulate clear research questions and hypotheses, and design solid research protocols. Researchers demonstrate in-depth knowledge of their field, the challenges that lie ahead and a broad scientific interest outside their specific research area.
• Responsible Conduct of Science. Researchers demonstrate the ability to make sound ethical and legal choices based on knowledge of accepted professional research practices, relevant policies, and guidelines. Researchers should be aware of the resources available, should ethical or integrity concerns arise.
• Teaching. Researchers can define the learning outcomes for the target group as well as adequately and suitable convey the material in a motivational manner.
• Communication. Researchers demonstrate interpersonal, written, verbal, listening and non-verbal communication skills enabling them to communicate facts, ideas, or opinions effectively and appropriately to colleagues, members of public and media.
• Personal Effectiveness. Researchers can adapt their personal qualities and behaviours to achieve improved results.
• Professional Development. Researchers can improve their transferable skills to further their career prospects.
• Leadership and Management. Researchers are equipped to manage and develop project ideas as well as facilitate effective teamwork including problem solving skills.
The subject is taught in programs
Objectives and competences
The objective of the course is to build a core of knowledge, skills, and competences of an independent research investigators who:
• can concisely frame and critique a research question,
• can develop information search plan, navigate scholarly literature, and identify high quality resources,
• understand various research study design and methods and integrate appropriate one,
• can collect data that address the research questions,
• understand the importance of basic quantitative/qualitative data management/analysis and interpretation,
• understand the general format of a scientific abstract and can write an effective abstract for proposed research topic,
• understand the general structure and principles of scientific writing and develop a research manuscript,
• understand steps and communications involved in peer review publication process,
• can develop scientific presentation and communicate effectively in a scientific conference.
Teaching and learning methods
Student-centered lectures supported by ICT tools, use of flipped learning, consultations and use of feedback, practical demonstrations, seminars, individual project work, use of peer support groups for competence development.
Expected study results
Knowledge and understanding:
Since the aim of the course is to build the core of knowledge, skills and abilities (competencies) of an independent researcher, the intended learning outcomes and objective and competences overlap.
Upon completion of the course, the PhD candidate:
• can concisely frame and critique a research question,
• can develop information search plan, navigate scholarly literature, and identify high quality resources,
• understand various research study design and methods and integrate appropriate one,
• can collect data that address the research questions,
• understand the importance of basic quantitative/qualitative data management/analysis and interpretation,
• understand the general format of a scientific abstract and can write an effective abstract for proposed research topic,
• understand the general structure and principles of scientific writing and develop a research manuscript,
• understand steps and communications involved in peer review publication process,
• can develop scientific presentation and communicate effectively in a scientific conference.
Basic sources and literature
Durette, Barthélémy, et al. “The Core Competencies of PhDs.” Studies in Higher Education, vol. 41, no. 8, Taylor & Francis, 2016, pp. 1355–70, doi:10.1080/03075079.2014.968540.
Meerah, T. Subahan Mohd, et al. “Developing an Instrument to Measure Research Skills.” Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 60, 2012, pp. 630–36, doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.09.434.
Meissner, Dirk, and Natalia Shmatko. “Integrating Professional and Academic Knowledge: The Link between Researchers Skills and Innovation Culture.” Journal of Technology Transfer, vol. 44, no. 4, Springer US, 2019, pp. 1273–89, doi:10.1007/s10961-018-9662-8.
Stay up to date
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Electrical Engineering Tržaška cesta 25, 1000 Ljubljana